'Hmeruan  Boatli  oE  dommtsaiamrs  Eor 
Jorcign  ilHta^tvnSi 


THE  JAPANj  MISSION. 

1869'1905. 

A CONDENSED  SKETCH.^ 


By  Rev.  JAMES  H.  PETTEE,  D.D. 


New  and  Revised  Edition 
By  Rev.  J.  D.  DAVIS,  D.D. 


BOSTON : 

Congregational  House. 
Printelf  for  tfje  Smcrtran  Boarli. 
1906. 


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/ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/japanmission186900pett 


CONDENSED  SKETCH  OF  THE 
JAPAN  MISSION. 


This  island  empire  with  its  extensive  coast- 
line of  17,575  miles  is  about  the  size  of  Califor- 
nia, minus  her  northeast  county  of  Modoc.  That 
is,  it  contains  155,962  square  miles.  The  coun- 
try is  something  the  shape  and  exactly  the  size 
of  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Kentucky  combined, 
but  contains  six  times  the  population  of  this 
triad  of  American  states. 

It  is  a trifle  less  than  nineteen  times  the  size 
of  Massachusetts,  with  a little  more  than  nine- 
teen times  her  population!  Its  range  of  latitude 
is  that  from  southern  Florida  to  northern  New- 
foundland. Its  range  of  longitude  equals  that 
from  Boston  to  Denver.  Within  its  boundaries 
are  six  cities,  each  containing  over  100,000 
people. 

Of  these,  Tokyo,  the  capital  and  great  educa- 
tional center,  with  its  imperial  palace  surrounded 
by  the  walls  and  moats  of  feudal  times,  its 
famous  Bridge  of  Japan,  from  which  all  distances 
in  the  empire  are  measured,  and  in  public  offices 
and  private  dwellings  its  strange  architectural 
medley  of  ancient  Asia  and  modern  Europe,  is  the 
largest,  having  over  1,800,000  residents.  Next 
comes  Osaka,  with  nearly  1,000,000,  largely 
merchants  or  operatives.  Because  of  its  location 
in  the  delta  of  the  Yodo  river  and  its  many 
canals,  it  is  called  the  Venice  of  Japan.  Because 
of  its  modern  manufactories  and  their  useful  but 


3 


4 


unsightly  chimneys,  it  might  be  named  the  Man- 
chester or  Pittsburg  of  Japan.  Third  in  size, 
with  a population  of  380,000,  comes  Kyoto. 
From  794  to  1868  the  capital,  and  still  retaining 
the  old  imperial  palace,  for  centuries  the  center 
of  the  nation’s  religious  life,  especially  of  the 
large  Buddhist  contingent,  noted  for  its  silks, 
embroideries,  and  porcelains,  and  containing 
some  admirable  specimens  of  landscape  garden- 
ing and  a people  who  are  conservative  in  temper- 
ament and  greatly  in  lov^e  with  nature,  Kyoto 
is  the  most  interesting  of  all  Japanese  cities. 
Yokohama  and  Kobe,  each  with  about  300,000 
inhabitants,  are  the  two  great  foci  of  the  nation’s 
foreign  commerce. 

The  population  of  the  whole  empire,  including 
Formosa,  which  came  ^nder  Japanese  dominion 
in  1895  as  one  result  of  the  Chino- Japanese  war, 
is  50,871,937.  The  main  island  of  the  Formosan 
group  is  250  miles  long,  with  an  average  breadth 
of  50  miles.  The  Tropic  of  Cancer  passes  through 
it  near  the  center.  In  the  difficult  task  of  tran- 
quillizing and  developing  these  new  possessions 
Japan  has  met  her  “ Philippine  problem.” 

Climate  .and  Products.  — The  islands  are 
of  volcanic  origin  and  verj^  mountainous.  Sev- 
eral of  the  active  volcanoes  are  easily  climbed, 
and,  together  with  the  peerless  Fuji,  which  in  art 
as  in  nature  is  justly  the  pride  of  the  land,  are 
frequent  resorts  of  pilgrims,  it  being  considered 
an  act  of  special  virtue  to  worship  the  rising  sun 
from  the  pinnacle  of  some  high  mountain.  In 
former  times  women  were  not  allowed  on  the 
upper  slopes  of  sacred  Fuji.  Eruptions  arc  not 


5 


infrequent,  that  of  Bandai-zan  in  1888  resulting 
in  the  loss  of  461  lives,  while  earthquakes  are  so 
common,  especially  in  the  eastern-central  section 
of  the  country,  as  to  pass  unnoticed  unless  exce[)- 
tionally  severe.  The  most  destructive  earth- 
quake of  recent  years  occurred  on  the  morning 
of  October  28,  1891,  when  nearly  8,000  persons 
lost  their  lives,  while  14,000  were  injured.  Some 
90,000  houses  were  destroyed,  and  so  much 
damage  wrought  that,  aside  from  a vast  amount 
of  private  charity,  the  government  spent  nearly 
14,000,000  in  repairing  public  works  and  restor- 
ing industries  in  the  afflicted  region.  In  1896  a 
tidal  wave  sweeping  along  the  northern  coast  of 
the  main  island  killed  30,000  people.  Floods, 
typhoons,  and  infectious  diseases  also  ravage 
portions  of  the  land  nearly  every  year.  The 
warm  current  on  the  east  coast  makes  the  sum- 
mer a wet  season  and  adds  greatly  to  the  pic- 
turesque beauty  and  sticky  discomfort  of  that 
trying  season. 

“ The  climate  is  governed  mainly  b}"  the  mon- 
soons. The  southwest  monsoon,  which  blows 
from  May  to  August  and  is  accompanied  by 
heavy  rains,  produces  a hot  and  damp  sum- 
mer; and  the  northeast  monsoon,  which  lasts 
from  October  to  February,  makes  the  winter 
cold,  but  the  extremes  are  not  so  great  as  are 
experienced  on  the  neighboring  continent.” 
The  western  coast  is  much  colder  than  the  east- 
ern and  has  heavy  falls  of  snow.  In  most  parts 
the  pleasantest  season  is  the  autumn.  The  pro- 
portion of  ozone  in  the  air  is  said  to  be  onlj^ 
about  one  third  of  what  is  found  in  most  western 
lands.  High  winds  are  common,  the  most 


G 


dreaded  being  the  cireular  storm  known  as 
typhoon. 

Riee  culture  is  the  chief  industry  of  the  land, 
200,000,000  bushels  being  raised  yearly.  There 
is  a perfect  system  of  terracing  and  irrigation, 
dating  back  for  its  beginning  to  the  time  of 
Christ.  Of  wheat,  17,000,000  bushels  are  raised 
and  of  tea,  70,000,000  pounds.  Millet,  sorghum, 
beans,  buckwheat,  potatoes,  radishes,  melons, 
rapeseed,  cotton,  flax,  indigo,  and  tobacco  are 
abundantly  grown.  Usually  two  crops  are  har- 
vested each  year.  Tw'o  hundred  varieties  of  fish, 
nearly  all  from  salt  water,  supply  the  low  stands 
which  still  serve  the  Japanese  as  tables.  Ducks, 
pheasants,  apes,  badgers,  hares,  and  bears  also 
serve  for  food. 

Until  recent  years  deer  were  very  plentiful. 
“ The  fox  is  regarded  with  superstitious  fear, 
partly  because  it  is  considered  the  messenger  of 
one  of  the  gods,  and  still  more  because  it  is 
•supposed  to  bewitch  people.  Many  persons  are 
thought  to  be  victims  of  fox-possession.  They 
bark  like  a fox,  jump  about  and  move  their 
bodies  in  a curious  way.  The  phenomenon 
is  evidently  a form  of  nervous  disease  whose 
manifestations  are  governed  by  prevailing  super- 
stitions.” Where  there  are  no  foxes,  badger- 
possession  takes  its  place. 

The  consumption  of  beef  is  yearly  increasing, 
and  large  quantities  of  this  and  other  eatables 
are  canned  for  preservation.  Until  recently 
milk  was  used  only  as  a medicine,  and  butter  not 
at  all.  Tea,  tobacco,  and  sake  (rice  wfine)  are 
consumed  in  large  quantities,  and  drunkenness 
is  very  common,  though  less  boisterous  than 


7 


in  Western  lands.  One  .seventh  of  the  rice  goes 
through  a distillery.  The  commonest  fruits  are 
oranges,  persimmons,  biwa,  pears,  grapes,  apri- 
cots, and  peaches.  Small  fruits,  grafted  fruits, 
and  blooded  stock  are  being  introduced  by  the 
government  on  its  model  farms,  and  to  a limited 
extent  by  private  enterprise.  Apples  are  also 
now  produced  in  increasingly  large  quantities  in 
northeastern  Japan. 

Silk  is  also  a product  of  great  value,  over 
9,000,000  pounds  of  the  raw  article  being  manu- 
factured yearly.  Mining,  one  of  the  oldest  in- 
dustries of  the  country,  has  undergone  great 
improvements  during  recent  years,  and  the  out- 
put of  aU  common  minerals  is  very  large,  coal  and 
copper  taking  the  lead.  Cotton  spinning  flour- 
ishes, a large  number  of  factories  having  been 
opened  within  the  past  ten  years.  .A.mong  her 
older  industries  for  which  Japan  has  long  been 
noted  may  be  mentioned  the  manufacture  of 
porcelain  and  faience,  bronze  utensils  and 
lacquer  ware. 

The  People.  — The  origin  of  the  Japanese 
is  an  unsettled  subject.  Scientific  guesswork 
up  to  date  pronounces  them  a composite  derived 
from  two  streams  of  immigration,  one  Mongolian 
and  one  Malayan,  passing  through  Korea, 
spreading  northward  and  eastward,  and  grad- 
ually subduing  the  Ainu  (who  are  not  Mon- 
golians) and  other  aborigines  of  the  country. 
It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  recent  Japanese 
scholars  have  discovered  close  resemblances 
between  Shintoism,  the  pure  native  cult,  and 
ancient  Judaism,  while  one  Scotchman  years  ago 


8 


publislied  a little  book  in  which  he  essayed  to 
prove  that  the  Japanese  were  derived  from  the 
lost  tribes  of  Israel. 

The  people  arc  small  of  stature,  the  average 
man  attaining  about  the  same  height  as  the 
average  European  woman.  They  develop  early 
and  are  shortlived,  though  the  number  of  very  old 
])eople  is  fairly  high.  They  have  less  high-strung 
nerves  than  Europeans;  hence  they  endure 
]):iin  more  calmly  and  meet  death  with  com- 
parative indifference.  This  last  is  not^;ntirely  a 
physical  characteristic,  but  is  due  in  part  to  their 
religious  beliefs.  Boys,  young  men,  and  women 
tlo  the  hard  work,  and  the  dead  line  is  crossed  at 
I'orty.  Formerly  women  blackened  their  teeth 
and  shaved  off  their  eyebrows  at  marriage. 
They  do  not  bind  their  feet.  Women  are  sub- 
ject to  their  fathers,  husbands,  and  eldest  sons, 
but  have  more  freedom  apd  are  better  educated 
than  in  other  oriental  countries  and  better  than 
formerly  in  Japan.  The  Japanese  are  intelli- 
gent, polite,  cheerful,  cleanly,  cautious,  curious, 
industrious,  imitative,  kind-hearted,  honorable, 
intensely  patriotic,  and  fairly  persevering.  They 
are  inclined  to  be  fickle,  “ nothing  being  fixed 
in  Japan  except  change,”  deceptive,  improvident, 
\'isionary,  suspicious,  and  somewhat  supersti- 
tious and  sensual.  “ They  are  easily  discour- 
aged. The  phrase  Shikata  ga  nai,  ‘ There  is 
no  help  for  it,’  is  heard  constantly  as  a reason 
for  discontinuing  effort,  or  even  as  an  excuse  for 
yielding  to  sin  instead  of  bravely  fighting  against 
evil.  The  people  are  opportunists.”  Prof. 
G.  T.  Ladd  accounts  for  peculiarities  and  seem- 
ing contradictions  by  saying  that  the  Japanese 


9 


are  of  the  sentimental  temperament,  the  distin- 
guishing mark  of  which  is  “ great  susceptibility 
to  variety  of  influences  — especially  on  the  side 
of  feeling,  and  independent  of  clear,  logical 
analysis  or  fixed  and  well-comprehended  prin- 
ciples — with  a tendency  to  a wiU  that  is  impul- 
sive and  liable  to  collapse.  . . . It  is  the  artistic 
temperament,  the  temperament  which  makes 
one  interesting,  the  clever  mind,  the  tempera- 
ment which  has  a suggestion  of  genius  at  its 
command.”  Impurity  of  life  is  an  open  and 
common  vice.  There  is  one  divorce  to  every 
four  marriages.  Children  are  very  obedient. 
Corporal  punishment  is  almost  unknown. 

It  has  been  said  with  epigrammatic  wit  that 
the  Japanese  are  “ great  in  little  things  and 
little  in  great  things.”  Their  old-time  morality 
was  largely  manners.  They  are  the  French 
while  the  Chinese  are  the  Germans  of  Asia. 
Their  old  civilization  is  that  of  the  Chinese, 
but  they  possess  a temperament  that  welcomes 
the  new.  They  are  fond  of  surprises,  but  their 
changes  are  usually  in  the  line  of  progress. 

Government.  — In  theory  the  Emperor  — 
heaven-descended,  absolute,  infallible  — has  al- 
ways been  the  head  and  fountain  of  all  power. 
Practically  this  power  has  been  wielded  usually 
in  his  name  by  the  members  of  some  ambitious 
family,  which  has  managed  to  possess  itself  of 
supreme  influence  over  the  affairs  of  state. 
Even  since  the  revolution  of  1868,  whose  avowed 
object  was  to  restore  the  Emperor  to  his  pristine 
absolutism,  a large  share  of  the  reality  of  power 
has  lain  with  the  two  great  clans  of  Satsuma 


10 


and  Choshu.  This  coalition  is  now  nominally 
broken  up.  On  the  eleventh  day  of  February, 
1889,  amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  nation,  a consti- 
tution was  proclaimed  from  the  throne,  thus  pla- 
cing Japan  in  line  with  the  liberal  governments 
of  the  Western  world.  By  this  constitution, 
liberty  of  conscience,  speech,  and  association 
is  guaranteed  to  the  people.  The  present  em- 
peror is  Mutsuhito,  who  was  born  November  3, 
1852,  and  is,  according  to  Japanese  reckoning, 
the  one  hundred  and  twenty-third  in  an  unbroken 
line  of  rulers  since  Jimmu  Tenno,  a very  mythi- 
cal personage,  who  is  supposed  to  have  founded 
the  dynasty  in  660  b.c.  Authentic  history,  how- 
ever, does  not  antedate  the  fifth  century  of  the 
Christian  era.  The  administration  at  present  is 
divided  into  ten  departments,  the  heads  of  nine 
of  which  form  the  Emperor’s  cabinet.  In  the 
national  elective  system  the  whole  country  is 
divided  into  257  electoral  districts,  represented 
by  369  deputies  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Foreign  Relations.  — From  the  thirteenth 
to  the  sixteenth  century  Japan  was  open  to  the 
scanty  commerce  of  those  times.  Then,  through 
distrust  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  country 
was  sealed  up.  Commodore  Perry  reopened  it 
in  1851.  The  treaties  which  went  into  effect  in 
1859  have  been  mainly  operative  until  the 
year  1899.  In  December,  1871,  Japan  ratified 
her  entrance  into  the  comity  of  nations  by  send- 
ing to  America  and  Europe  an  embassy  of  nobles 
and  ministers  of  high  rank.  On  July  17,  1899, 
by  the  going  into  operation  of  the  new  treaties 
so  long  desired  and  worked  for,  Japan  became 


11 


a peer  among  the  leading  nations  of  the  world. 
The  date  is  memorable  as  marking  the  first 
instance  in  the  world’s  later  history  of  the  recep- 
tion of  a far  Eastern  nation  into  the  sisterhood 
of  Christian  nations  upon  terms  of  equality. 
The  whole  country  is  now  thrown  open  to  for- 
eign residence  and  trade.  Old  restrictions  that 
hitherto  have  hampered  missionary  work  are 
now  removed.  There  is  no  further  need  of 
special  passports.  The  rapid  extension  of  rail- 
roads has  brought  all  parts  of  the  empire  within 
easy  reach,  and  the  reactionary  movement  of 
the  last  decade  against  all  things  Christian  and 
foreign  seems  nearly  to  have  spent  its  force. 
Over  13,000  foreigners,  more  than  one  half  of 
them  Chinese,  are  now  residing  in  the  country. 

Recent  Changes.  — The  Emperor  has  come 
out  from  his  seclusion,  meets  his  counselors, 
makes  tours  through  the  country,  is  seen  by 
common  people,  even  dines  with  his  merchants, 
who,  as  a class,  stood  lowest  in  the  old-time 
social  scale.  Five  thousand  miles  of  railway, 
steamship  lines,  a telegraph  business  that 
amounts  to  $50,000  a day,  a complete  post-office 
department  embracing  postal-order,  rural  deliv- 
ery, parcels  delivery,  and  savings-bank  depart- 
ments; lighthouses,  telephones,  steam  mills  with 
complicated  machinery,  a new  civil  and  criminal 
code,  electric  cars  and  lights,  a well-equipped 
army  and  navy,  a fine  mint,  official  observance 
of  the  Sabbath,  adoption  of  the  Christian  calen- 
dar, and  complete  religious  freedom,  — these  are 
the  striking  features  of  New  Japan.  She  also 
has  two  universities  with  afliiiated  colleges,  and 


12 


in  all  30,662  schools,  with  over  5,000,000  stu- 
dents, one  ninth  of  her  whole  population,  and 
93.23  per  cent  of  children  of  school  age  are  in 
school.  English  is  taught  in  all  the  middle 
schools. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Japan  dates 
from  the  closing  years  of  the  Tokugawa  admin- 
istration. In  the  first  3'ear  of  the  Meiji  era 
(1868)  an  official  gazette  appeared,  and  there- 
after newspaper  enterprise  received  a great  im- 
petus. Aside  from  half  a dozen  great  dailies 
that  go  far  toward  molding  as  well  as  reflecting 
public  opinion,  there  are  several  hundred  jour- 
nals and  periodicals  of  all  grades  of  worth  cir- 
culating through  the  empire. 

Japan  has  sent  scores  of  special  missions  to 
Europe  and  America  to  study  the  various  arts 
and  sciences  calculated  to  develop  material  civi- 
lization. Formerly  she  did  little  in  the  line  of 
public  benevolence,  and  private  charity  was 
restricted  to  one’s  own  family  or  clan.  But  now 
public  hospitals,  insane  asylums,  homes  for 
foundlings,  etc.,  are  springing  up  in  many 
places.  Charity  bazaars,  concerts,  and  theatri- 
cals are  quite  the  fashion.  The  Red  Cross 
Society,  with  a prince  of  royal  descent  as  its 
president,  is  very  flourishing,  having  over  one 
million  paying  members.  The  Emperor  and 
Empress  are  always  prompt  and  generous  in 
extending  aid  to  sufferers  from  great  natural 
calamities,  and  their  example  is  followed  by 
multitudes  of  others. 

Japan’s  foreign  commerce  amounts  annually 
to  nearly  $700,000,000,  against  less  than  one 
quarter  of  a million  in  1850.  Nearly  60,000 


13 


Japanese  laborers  are  found  to-day  in  Hawaii 
under  a contract  to  work  on  sugar  plantations. 
They  sent  home  of  their  surplus  earnings  in  1904 
about  16,000,000.  Japanese  colonies  have  been 
established  on  the  French  West  Indian  island 
of  Guadeloupe,  in  Mexico,  the  Philippine  Islands, 
and  elsewhere. 

Native  Religions.  — Shinto,  which  means 
literally  “ the  way  of  the  gods,”  is  the  name 
given  to  the  mythology  and  vague  ancestor  and 
nature  worship  which  preceded  the  introduction 
of  Buddhism  into  Japan,  and  which  survives  to 
the  present  day  in  a somewhat  modified  form. 
It  is  hardly  entitled  to  the  name  of  a religion, 
as  it  has  no  set  of  dogmas,  no  sacred  book,  and 
no  moral  code.  It  has,  however,  8,000,000  gods, 
with  the  sun-goddess  at  their  head,  which  direct 
the  changes  of  the  seasons,  the  wind  and  the 
rain,  the  good  and  bad  fortune  of  states  and 
individual  men.  In  most  houses  the  “ god- 
shelf  ” is  found,  on  which  are  placed  offerings  to 
the  household  divinities.  Every  village,  town, 
or  division  of  a town  has  its  patron  deity  and 
common  temple,  the  inhabitants  of  the  district 
being  called  the  children  of  the  god.  When 
the  local  festivals  are  held,  business  often  is 
suspended  and  each  householder  hangs  a large 
lantern  at  his  door  in  honor  of  the  god.  There 
are  56,500  shrines  or  temples,  some  of  which 
are  maintained  out  of  public  moneys,  and  the 
attendance  of  certain  officials  is  required  from 
time  to  time  at  ceremonies  of  a half-religious, 
half-courtly  nature.  Follow  your  natural  im- 
pulses and  reverence  the  Emperor  seem  to  be 


14 


its  leading  principles.  Some  of  its  sects  profess 
to  heal  the  sick  by  the  agency  of  prayer,  and 
thus  retain  a firm  hold  on  large  classes  of  the 
people. 

Buddhism  was  introduced  from  Korea,  A.D. 
552.  There  are  at  present  ten  different  sects, 
with  many  subdivisions,  72,000  temples,  90,000 
monks  and  nuns,  and  a vast  number  of  beli  evers 
whose  zeal  needs  only  an  occasion  to  be  vividly 
shown. 

“ The  groves  and  gardens  connected  with 
some  Buddhist  temples  are  among  the  most  beau- 
tiful places  in  Japan.  Massive  bells,  struck  on 
the  outside  by  a piece  of  timber  suspended  by 
ropes  so  as  to  swing  like  a battering  ram,  flood 
the  air  with  their  deep,  mellow  tones.  The  altars 
within  the  temples,”  continuing  our  quotation 
from  Cary’s"  Japan  and  Its  Regeneration,”  “ are 
gorgeous  with  gilded  images,  candelabra,  and 
the  other  paraphernalia  of  worship.  The  air  is 
heavy  with  incense.  Priests  in  gorgeous  robes 
chant  Sanskrit  prayers  whose  meaning  is  unin- 
telligible to  most  of  the  priests  as  well  as  their 
hearers.”  Prayer  wheels  and  revolving  libraries 
are  labor-saving  devices  for  accumulating  merit. 
" In  mediaeval  Japan  the  monks  were  not  seldom 
the  sole  possessors  of  scholarship.  The  arts  of 
painting  and  sculpture  as  well  as  the  sciences  of 
astronomy  and  mathematics  were  cultivated  in 
the  monasteries.”  Many  of  them  took  an  impor- 
tant part  in  politics.  One  emperor,  who  was 
congratulated  upon  his  power,  said  that  there 
remained  three  things  that  he  could  not  control: 
The  waters  of  the  river  Kamo,  the  dice  of 
Suguroku,  a noted  gambler,  and  the  turbulent 


priests  on  Mt.  Hiei.  Some  of  the  Buddhist  sects 
have  exhibited  at  times  a persecuting  spirit. 

With  great  differences,  which  in  some  matters 
are  contradictions,  Japanese  Buddhism  in  its 
trend  is  atheistic,  idolatrous,  teaches  the  trans- 
migration of  souls,  the  subjection  of  woman  (her 
onl}^  hope  of  heaven  being  to  be  re-born  as  a 
man),  salvation  by  personal  culture  or  through 
the  merits  of  Amida,  and  Nirvana,  or  a state  of 
passive  rest  as  the  goal  of  existence.  Buddhist 
priests  have  no  living  faith  in  what  they  teach; 
their  morals  are  very  low,  and  the  religion  has 
almost  no  appreciable  moral  power  over  the 
people. 

Confucian  morals,  whose  cornerstone  is  sub- 
mission to  parents  and  political  rulers,  are 
taught  in  the  schools,  and  the  system  is  theoret- 
ically believed  by  many  intelligent  Japanese. 
For  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  beginning  with 
the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  centur}^,  the 
whole  intellect  of  the  country  was  molded  by 
Confucian  ideas,  and,  notwithstanding  the  social 
cataclysm  of  the  last  thirty  years,  which  has 
overwhelmed  all  Japanese  institutions,  it  still 
retains  a strong  hold  on  the  thinking  men  of 
Japan,  the  reason  being  that  it  has  to  do  solely 
with  ceremonies  and  duties  (rites  and  rights) 
of  the  present  life,  and  not  with  speculations 
concerning  the  future. 

Tenrikyo  is  a modified  form  of  Shinto.  The 
word  means  “ Heavenly  Wisdom  Sect.”  Origi- 
nally promulgated  by  a peasant  woman  who  was 
born  in  1798,  it  has  during  the  past  twenty  years 
become  thoroughly  eclectic,  and  achieved  a 
marvelous  popularity,  now  numbering  at  least 


18 


1,000,000  followers,  entirel}'  among  the  common 
people.  Some  of  its  sermons  are  simply  de\"el- 
opments  of  Christ’s  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It 
professes  to  heal  by  the  power  of  prayer,  and 
worships  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe.  Buddhists 
oppose  it  as  strongly  as  they  do  Christianity. 
“ The  missionary  spirit  of  the  believers  is  an 
interesting  feature.  Even  jinrikisha-pullers  and 
other  uneducated  men  engage  in  preaching  and 
other  means  of  propagating  the  doctrine.  Men 
of  means  sometimes  give  over  their  whole  prop- 
erty for  the  use  of  the  sect.  There  is  reason  for 
thinking  that  the  sect  has  passed  the  zenith  of 
its  power.” 

All  the  old  religions  have  lost  their  grip  upon 
the  people.  Even  Buddhist  journals  are  pub- 
lishing such  comments  as  these:  “ Buddhism  is 
holding  its  own  to-day  by  the  mere  force  of 
inertia.”  “ Within  ten  years  Buddhism  will  fail 
in  all  its  endeavors.”  “ Buddhism  is  dead.” 
“ All  that  remains  of  Buddhism  is  its  literature.” 
“ A Buddhist  magazine  recently  took  the  reli- 
gious statistics  of  students  in  three  of  the  higher 
in.stitutions  of  learning.  Of  the  students,  409 
gave  their  religions  as  follows:  Confucianist,  1; 
Shintoist,  1;  Buddhists,  15;  Christians,  4;  athe- 
ists, 60;  agnostics,  282;  non-committal,  46.  It 
will  be  seen  that  only  seventeen  declared  their 
belief  in  any  of  the  old  religions  of  Japan.” 

Roman  Catholicism  in  Japan.  — Japanese 
historians  note  the  year  1542  as  the  date  of  the 
first  appearance  of  foreigners,  Christianity,  and 
firearms.  The  Jesuits  went  there  in  1549.  The 
preceding  yeai'  a Japanese  fugitive  named  Anjiro 


19 


met  Saint  Francis  Xavier  in  India,  and  together 
with  his  two  servants  was  baptized  later  at  Goa. 
When  asked  what  prospects  Christianity  would 
have  in  his  home  land  Anjiro  replied,  “ My 
people  would  not  assent  immediately  to  what 
might  be  said  to  them,  but  they  would  investi- 
gate this  religion  by  a multitude  of  questions, 
and  above  all  by  observing  whether  your  conduct 
agreed  with  your  words.  This  done,  the  daimios, 
the  nobility,  and  the  people  would  flock  to  Christ, 
being  a nation  which  always  follows  reason  as  a 
guide.” 

Xavier  arrived  at  Kagoshima,  August  15, 
1549,  where  he  was  received  with  distinguished 
courtesy  by  the  prince  and  forthwith  began  to 
preach  the  gospel.  After  a time  some  of  the 
daimios  became  Catholics  and  compelled  their 
subjects,  to  the  number  of  more  than  half  a 
million,  to  embrace  the  new  faith.  In  1587  the 
Tycoon  Hideyoshi,  fearing  lest  Japan  should 
become  the  slave  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  ordered 
the  banishment  of  the  missionaries.  Some  300 
persons  were  deported  to  Macao  at  one  time. 
Others  were  sent  to  the  Philippine  Islands,  where 
their  descendants  still  live.  Fire  and  sword  were 
freely  used  during  the  following  years  against 
the  Christians.  The  unhappy  victims  met  tor- 
ture and  death  with  a fortitude  that  compels  our 
admiration.  Roman  Catholic  historians  esti- 
mate that  over  a thousand  persons,  European 
and  Japanese,  connected  with  the  four  orders, 
Jesuit,  Franciscan,  Dominican,  and  Augustinian, 
together  with  200,000  of  the  laity,  perished 
during  these  persecutions.  Many  bloody  battles 
followed.  In  1637  the  Christians  finally  sur- 


20 


rendered.  Thirty-iseven  thousand  of  them  were 
massacred.  Secret  believers,  however,  have 
existed  ever  since.  In  1865  hundreds  of  such 
were  found  in  the  villages  around  Nagasaki. 
There  are  now  58,056  adherents  to  the  Church 
of  Rome,  together  with  236  European  and  332 
native  priests,  nuns,  and  catechists. 

The  Orthodox  Russian  Church  opened  a 
mission  in  Japan  in  1870.  It  has  been  exceed- 
ingl}'  fortunate  in  possessing  as  its  head  and 
inspiring  genius  Bishop  Nicolai,  a man  of  rare 
gifts  and  most  charming  personality.  The 
Russian  Cathedral  in  Tokyo  is  by  far  the  finest 
ecclesiastical  edifice  in  the  country,  and  the 
chanting  of  the  service  on  Saturday  evening  is 
one  of  the  choice  attractions  of  the  capital, 
aside  from  its  liturgical  and  religious  import. 
Throughout  the  whole  country  this  mission  con- 
tains two  foreign  and  190  native  preachers  and 
some  28,597  enrolled  members. 

Protestant  Missions.  — These  cover  a pe- 
riod of  forty  years.  Rev.  J.  Liggins  and  Rev. 
C.  M.  Williams  (late  bishop  of  Japan),  members 
of  the  China  Mission  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  of  the  United  States,  were  transferred  to 
Japan  in  1859,  Mr.  Liggins  reaching  Nagasaki 
on  May  2,  which  was  actually  two  months  before 
the  date  set  by  the  treaties  when  foreigners 
would  be  allowed  to  reside  in  Japan.  In  the 
fall  of  the  same  year  representatives  of  the 
Presbyterian  and  Reformed  churches  in  America 
reached  the  country.  To-day  there  are  about 
862  missionaries,  including  wives  and  self-sup- 
porting workers  representing  some  thirty-nine 


21 


different  societies.  So  great  was  the  distrust 
of  foreigners,  and  especially  of  Christianity, 
that  at  the  end  of  five  years  there  was  but  07ie 
baptized  Japanese,  and  at  the  end  of  twelve 
years  but  ten. 

Men  afterward  confessed  that  they  became 
the  teachers  of  missionaries  in  the  hope  of  finding 
opportunity  to  assassinate  them.  Some  young 
men  when  learning  English  erased  the  word 
Christian  from  the  cover  and  title-page  of  their 
readers  lest  it  might  be  noticed  by  others  and 
bring  them  into  trouble.  Yano  Riyu,  a language 
teacher  of  one  of  the  missionaries,  was  the  first 
Japanese  to  be  baptized  by  Protestants.  This 
took  place  at  the  candidate’s  own  home  in 
Yokohama  in  October,  1864,  the  man  being  sick 
unto  death  at  the  time.  The  rite  was  performed 
with  the  full  permission  of  his  family  as  well  as 
himself. 

The  first  church  was  organized  in  Yokohama, 
March  10,  1872,  and  consisted  of  eleven  mem- 
bers. There  are  now  over  50,000  baptized 
adult  Protestant  Christians,  gathered  into  498 
churches.  We  find  independent  churches.  Home 
Missionary  Societies,  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Associations,  Chautauqua  Circles,  Yoimg  Peo- 
ple’s Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  all 
forms  of  church  machinery.  The  Bible  has  been 
given  to  the  people  in  their  own  language,  the 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  being  com- 
pleted in  1880  and  that  of  the  Old  in  1887. 
More  than  a million  copies  have  been  sold. 
Hundreds  of  different  tracts,  commentaries,  and 
other  religious  books  have  been  prepared,  while 
more  than  thirty  newspapers  or  magazines  pub- 


22 


lished  ill  the  interests  of  Christianity  circulate 
among  the  people. 

Medical  work  filled  a large  place  in  the  early 
years  of  missionary  effort,  Drs.  Hepburn,  Berry, 
and  others  sometimes  being  worshiped  because 
of  their  successful  operations.  Even  to-day,  not- 
withstanding Japan’s  giant  strides  in  the  healing 
art,  and  her  admirable  system  of  public  hospitals, 
there  are  no  fewer  than  thirty-two  private  Chris- 
tian hospitals  or  dispensaries.  Of  high-grade 
Christian  schools  there  are  15  for  boys,  with 
2,120  students,  and  37  for  girls,  with  4,281 
pupils.  Also  at  least  100  night,  industrial,  or 
other  special  schools  or  classes,  with  over  5,000 
students.  There  are  21  orphan  asylums  under 
Protestant  and  21  under  Roman  Catholic  influ- 
ences. The  Okayama  Orphanage,  founded  in 
1887, by  Mr.  J.  Ishii,  a medical  student,  in  humble 
imitation  of  George  Muller’s  faith  institutions  at 
Bristol,  England,  was  the  first  Protestant  ven- 
ture of  this  sort  and  has  been  for  several  years  the 
largest  and  most  widely  known  of  all  Japanese 
as3dums.  At  present  its  inmates  number  278 
children  and  twenty  helpers,  while  through  the 
year  over  500  different  persons  have  been  be- 
friended. 

There  are  three  leper  hospitals,  and  two 
asylums  for  the  aged,  nearly  equally  divided 
between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  four  Chris- 
tian a.sylums  for  the  blind  and  the  deaf,  a spe- 
cial mission  for  railway  employees,  another  for 
policemen,  yet  another  for  the  Loochoo  Islanders 
and  also  one  among  the  Ainu,  the  mild-man- 
nered aborigines  of  northern  Japan;  also,  work 
for  convicts  and  discharged  prisoners.  Mr.  I. 


23 


Kara  and  wife  have  opened  their  home  as  a 
temporary  refuge  for  ex-convicts.  Mr.  S. 
Katayama  has  inaugurated  social  settlement 
work  very  successfully  at  his  Kingsley  Hall  in 
Tokyo,  and  Mr.  K.  Tomeoka  has  now  opened  a 
reformatory  for  juvenile  culprits.  Temperance 
work  is  pushed  vigorously  by  Christians,  and 
many  unbelievers  have  joined  with  them  in  this 
reform  movement.  The  agitation  for  abolish- 
ing licensed  prostitution  was  begun  and  largely 
is  sustained  by  Christians. 

Among  those  high  in  position  who  are  Prot- 
estant Christians  may  be  mentioned  an  ex-chief 
justice  of  the  realm,  three  ex-presidents  or  vice- 
presidents  of  the  House  of  Commons,  at  least  a 
dozen  other  members  of  the  two  Houses,  two 
secretaries  of  cabinet  mini.sters.  Admiral  Uriu, 
Dr.  Suzuki,  medical  director  of  the  army,  and 
several  local  officials. 

American  Board  Mission.  — About  the  year 
1827  a company  of  Christian  laymen  living  in 
and  near  Boston  began  to  meet  regularly  to  pray 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  Their  earliest 
contributions  of  $600  were  devoted  to  Japan, 
and  this  sum  with  accrued  interest  and  other 
gifts  amounted  to  over  $4,000  by  the  time  the 
Board  was  ready  to  open  work  in  Japan.  The 
main  mission  was  commenced  in  1869  in  Central 
Japan,  Rev.  D.  C.  Greene  and  wife  arriving  at 
Yokohama  November  30  of  that  year.  It  has 
now  eleven  principal  stations;  Kobe,  O.saka, 
Kyoto,  Okaj^ama,  Maebashi,  Niigata,  Tokyo, 
and  Sendai  on  the  main  island,  Matsuyama  on 
the  island  of  Shikoku,  Miyazaki  on  the  island  of 


24 


Kiushu,  and  Sapporo  on  the  island  of  Hokkaido. 
Kumamoto,  one  of  the  most  important  centers 
on  the  island  of  Kiushu,  and  Tottori  on  the 
west  coast  of  the  main  island,  which  has  been 
occupied  for  fifteen  years,  have  been  given  up 
because  of  a lack  of  men.  Fifteen  years  ago 
there  were  over  thirty  men  connected  with  the 
Mission,  working  in  Japan;  to-day  there  are  only 
twenty,  while  the  number  of  unmarried  ladies 
connected  with  the  mission  fifteen  years  ago  has 
only  been  increased  from  seventeen  to  twenty. 

In  1871,  Y.  Ichikawa,  a teacher  of  one  of  the 
missionaries,  was  arrested  with  his  wife  at  dead 
of  night  and  thrown  into  prison  on  suspicion  of 
being  a Christian.  He  died  in  prison  in  Novem- 
ber, 1872.  The  wife  was  released  soon  after. 

Joseph  Neesima  apd  Paul  Sawa3'^ama,  after 
completing  their  education  in  America,  returned 
to  Japan  about  1874;  one  to  establish  a Chris- 
tian school,  the  other  to  become  an  eminently 
successful  pastor,  “ a pastor  of  pastors  ” as  he 
affectionately  was  called. 

The  Kyoto  Training  School,  now  called 
Doshisha,  was  opened  in  1875.  More  than 
thirty  of  its  students  came  from  Captain  Janes’s 
school  in  Kumamoto,  where,  through  the  influ- 
ence of  their  foreign  teacher  and  his  most 
estimable  wife,  they  had  become  Christians. 
Forty  students  in  the  Kumamoto  school  pledged 
their  lives  to  Christ  in  Japan;  fifteen  of  them 
formed  the  first  graduating  class  (1879)  at  the 
Kyoto  school.  Many  of  the  number  have  been 
leaders  in  Christian  work. 

The  Girls’  Department  of  the  Doshisha  was 
begun  in  a house  occupied  by  Mr.  Davis’s 


25 


family,  in  1876,  and  was  two  years  later  opened 
in  a commodious  building  which  was  erected 
and  the  beautiful  broad  lot  purchased  with 
money  contributed  by  the  ladies  of  New  England. 

More  than  five  thousand  different  students 
have  been  connected  with  the  Doshisha  schools 
since  the  founding,  thirty  years  ago.  Over 
one  thousand  have  been  graduated,  a majority 
of  whom  ha\'e  professed  Christianity.  The 
graduates  and  undergraduates  are  scattered 
over  the  empire,  and  they  have  helped  to  make 
the  New  Japan.  About  one  hundred  are  preach- 
ing the  Gospel,  nearly  two  hundred  are  teaching, 
others  are  officials,  editors,  bankers,  and  in  other 
positions  of  usefulness.  Over  one  hundred 
graduates  of  the  Girls’  Department  are  in  homes 
of  their  own,  most  of  them  centers  of  Christian 
homes,  and  more  than  seventy  graduates  of 
the  Training  School  for  Nurses  are  engaged  as 
nurses. 

The  institution  has,  besides  the  buildings  of 
its  Girls’  Department,  five  buildings  in  stone 
and  brick,  and  fifteen  others  in  semi-Japanese 
style. 

Its  largest  single  benefaction  was  that  from 
Hon.  J.  N.  Harris,  New  London,  Conn.,  for 
its  Science  Department.  Over  fifty  thousand 
yen  have  been  received  from  Japanese  donors, 
and  Mrs.  Byron  .W.  Clarke  gave  $11,500  for  a 
Theological  Hall  in  memory  of  her  son.  After 
passing  through  a great  crisis  the  Doshisha  was 
reorganized  in  1899  in  harmony  with  its  original 
purpose,  and  the  object  and  obligations  of  the 
institution  were  clearly  defined.  Three  mis- 
sionaries of  the  American  Board  are  full  members 


26 


on  its  board  of  directors.  During  the  last  school 
3'ear  over  600  students  were  enrolled  in  the 
school,  thirty  of  whom  were  in  the  Theological 
Department. 

In  the  5 girls’  schools  now  established 
that  have  grown  out  of  the  work  of  our  mis- 
sion there  are  700  pupils.  Of  these  special 
mention  should  be  made  of  Kobe  College,  a 
well-equipped  high-grade  institution  for  girls, 
generously  aided  by  the  Woman’s  Board  of  the 
Interior.  There  is  also  at  Kobe  a school  for 
the  training  of  Bible  Women  and  a most  excel- 
lent kindergarten  with  training-school  attach- 
ment; also  kindergartens  in  at  least  three  other 
stations;  a “love  your  neighbor”  mission  in 
Kyoto,  a school  for  poor  children  in  the  beggar 
district  of  Okayama,  and  classes  for  instruction 
in  English,  foreign  sewing,  cooking,  or  some  other 
useful  branch  in  aU  the  stations. 

The  first  church  connected  with  the  mission 
was  organized  in  Kobe,  April  19,  1874,  with  11 
members.  The  second,  following  closely  there- 
after, with  7 members,  was  organized  at  Osaka, 
May  24.  These  two  churches  recently  have 
celebrated  the  thirtieth  anniversaries  of  their 
organization. 

There  are  now  54  self-supporting  Kumi-ai 
Congregational  churches,  and  83  others  classed 
as  churches  and  preaching  places  which  are  aided 
by  the  mission.  The  total  adult  membership 
of  all  the  churches  is  11,908,  the  number  of  bap- 
tisms during  1904  having  been  1,020.  There 
are  71  ordained,  32  acting  pastors  and  evan- 
gelists, with  40  Bible  women,  besides  fully  100 
school  or  language  teachers.  The  total  regis- 


27 


tered  contributions  for  church  purposes  during 
1904  were  yen  46,820  (a  yen  equal  to  fifty  cents). 
There  is  also  a vigorous  Home  Missionary 
Society,  whose  receipts  last  year  were  yen  6,324, 
which  sustains  work  in  seven  cities.  Church 
building  property  is  valued  at  yen  140,000.  The 
principle  of  self-support  has  been  emphasized 
at  various  times  with  great  urgency,  and  it  is 
the  constant  aim  of  the  mission  to  build  up 
Japanese  churches  that  shall  assume  entire  self- 
support  and  self-control  at  the  earliest  feasible 
date. 

Present  Outlook  .^nd  Opportunity.  — For 
more  than  thirty  years  the  leaders  of  the  Jap- 
anese nation  sought  for  all  that  was  best  in  the 
material  civilization  of  the  West  and  adapted 
and  adopted  it.  They  have  railroads,  tele- 
graphs, newspapers,  a postal  system  equal  to 
any  in  the  world,  a Constitution,  a Parliament, 
an  army  and  navy,  and  a school  system  in  which 
over  ninety-three  per  cent  of  the  children  of 
school  age  are  enrolled.  The  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity during  this  period  has  been  no  less 
surprising.  Thirty-three  years  ago  it  was 
death  to  be  a Christian.  To-day  there  are  con- 
nected with  the  work  which  the  mission  of  our 
own  Board  started,  as  stated  on  a previous 
page,  54  self-supporting  churches  and  83  other 
churches  and  preaching  places  which  have  not 
reached  self-support  but  which  are  paying  more 
than  two  fifths  of  all  their  expenses.  All  our 
churches  in  Japan  have  built  their  own  houses 
of  worship.  But  the  fifty  thousand  Protestant 
Christians  and  the  more  than  eighty  thousand 


28 


Catholic  and  Greek  Church  Christians  by  no 
means  fully  represent  the  force  of  the  impact 
which  Christianity  has  made  upon  Japan. 

The  whole  nation  has  come  unconsciously 
but  powerfully  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity. Many  of  the  offshoots  of  Christianity 
have  been  transplanted  and  are  flourishing 
there.  The  Red  Cross  Association  has  more 
than  one  million  paying  members  in  Japan. 

Many  of  the  leaders  realize  that  the  old  sanc- 
tions are  gone.  Buddhism  is  moribund.  Shin- 
toism is  an  exponent  of  patriotism,  not  worship, 
but  reverence.  Such  men  as  Marquis  Ito, 
Counts  Katsura  and  Okuma,and  Barons  Kaneko, 
Kikuchi,  and  Maejima  realize  the  need  of  a new 
basis  of  morality,  and  most  of  them  say  that 
Christianity  furnishes  the  basis  needed. 

More  than  twenty  of  the  earnest  Christian 
graduates  of  our  best  colleges,  secured  by  the 
International  Committee  of  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association  in  New  York,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  educational  authorities  in  Japan, 
are  now  teaching  in  the  government  schools,  and 
influencing  thousands  of  the  brightest  young 
men  in  the  empire.  There  are  flourishing 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Associations  in  many  of 
the  higher  government  schools. 

The  outlook  in  the  churches  is  also  encourag- 
ing. Theological  doubts  and  difficulties  and 
discussions  have  largely  disappeared,  and  the 
workers  and  members  are  seeking  for  spiritual 
power  and  using  it  to  lead  men  to  Christ. 
Twelve  and  one-half  per  cent  were  added  to  the 
membership  of  the  Protestant  churches  last 
year.  The  Students’  Summer  School,  last  July, 


29 


at  Kobe,  emphasized  the  intensifying  of  the 
spiritual  life  and  the  development  of  personal 
Christian  experience,  and  it  was  attended  by 
over  three  hundred  students  from  twenty-six 
student  and  twelve  city  associations.  After  the 
closing  session  of  this  six  days’  conference, 
nearly  two  score  young  men  “ united  in  a 
solemn  compact  to  yield  themselves  to  tin; 
leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  unite  in  prayer 
and  service  for  the  evangelization  of  Japan.” 

The  late  terrible  war  has  sobered  the  nation 
and  made  the  people,  and  especially  the  young 
men,  more  ready  to  listen  to  the  Gospel  than 
ever  before.  The  majority  of  the  soldiers  who 
went  to  the  front  received  a Gospel  or  portion  of 
Scripture,  and  not  only  Admiral  Uriu  and  Dr. 
Suzuki,  the  medical  director  of  the  army,  but 
many  other  officers,  are  Christians.  Dr.  De 
Forest  and  the  foreign  and  Japanese  secretaries 
of  the  Tioung  Men’s  Christian  Association  who 
went  to  those  armies  were  most  cordially  received 
and  given  every  facility  for  their  work,  and  they 
have  made  a favorable  impression  upon  the  whole 
army.  Five  hundred  thousand  soldiers  will  come 
back  to  Japan  favorably  impressed  with  reference 
to  Christianity.  The  ’ Emperor’s  gift  of  ten 
thousand  yen  to  the  army  Young  Men’s  Christian 
work,  and  his  gift  of  two  thousand  yen  to  the 
Okayama  Orphan  Asylum  and  a promise  of  one 
thousand  yen  a year  to  the  same  institution  for 
ten  years,  with  his  gift  of  a thousand  yen  to  Mr. 
Hara’s  home  for  discharged  prisoners  in  Tokyo, 
have  made  a powerful  impression  on  the  nation 
in  favor  of  Christianity.  Count  Katsura,  the 
prime  minister,  .sent  greetings  by  Re^'.  Mr. 


30 


Kozaki,  to  the  American  Board  at  Seattle,  for 
what  its  missionaries  had  done  in  Japan. 

Such  is  the  outlook  in  Japan.  It  is  the  bright- 
est and  most  hopeful  outlook  that  any  nation 
ever  presented.  But  it  is  not  alone  “ Japan  for 
the  Japanese.”  Japan  holds  the  key  to  the 
Far  East.  Shejs  going  to  mold  and  transform 
Korea.  She  is  to  mold  China.  Her  influence 
on  China  is  one  of  the  greatest  marvels  of  the 
marvelous  decade  which  is  closing.  Japanese 
teachers  are  employed  in  the  University  at 
Peking.  The  Agricultural  College  at  Wuchang 
is  in  charge  of  Japanese.  Japanese  are  teaching 
in  nearly  every  large  city  in  the  empire.  Chinese 
newspapers  and  magazines  are  edited  by  Japa- 
nese. They  are  translating  books  on  Western 
learning  into  Chinese.  The  last  report  says 
that  eight  thousand  Chinese  students  are  study- 
ing in  the  schools  of  Japan.  A learned  Japa- 
nese has  been  asked  to  draw  up  a code  of  laws 
for  China.  Ninety  Chinese  graduated  from  the 
Japanese  Military  Academy  last  year,  and  over 
five  hundred  others  are  in  that  academy,  or 
preparing  in  other  schools  to  enter  it.  Japa- 
nese are  teaching  in  the  Chinese  military  schools 
and  drilling  her  armies.  Japanese  are  helping 
China  to  establish  cotton,  silk,  match,  and  cigar- 
ette factories  and  to  open  her  coal  mines.  They 
have  stimulated  China  to  desire  to  build  her  own 
railroads,  and  she  is  paying  out  nearly  seven 
million  dollars  to  get  back  the  concession  for 
the  Hankow-Canton  Railroad  which  she  had 
given  to  foreigners. 

Millions  of  copies  of  newspapers  have  carried 
a knowledge  of  the  late  war  all  over  the  Chinese 


31 


empire,  and  China  knows  that  Christian  nations 
opened  Japan,  and  that  their  civilization  has 
made  Japan  what  she  is.  China  seems  ready 
to  break  up  like  a frozen  river.  The  old  ice  of 
her  conservatism  is  rotten  and  it  may  go  with  a 
rush.  Whole  villages  and  towns  in  both  Korea 
and  China  are  calling  for  the  Gospel,  some  of 
them  building  churches  before  they  have  ever* 
seen  a preacher.  Japanese  Christians  are  begin- 
ning to  work  in  both  Korea  and  China. 

.A.11  the  signs  of  the  times,  all  the  voices  of  the 
Far  East  say,  “Advance,”  “Push  things."  This 
is  especially  true  in  Japan.  The  outlook  for 
Christ  in  Japan  is  the  brightest  and  most  hopeful 
outlook  that  any  nation  ever  presented.  The 
only  discouraging  thing  about  the  situation  is 
that  the  workers  and  the  resources  are  inade- 
quate. The  work  is  being  crippled  when  it 
should  be  doubled.  A few  thousand  dollars 
more  for  direct  evangelistic  work  in  our  mission 
would  almost  double  the  efficiency  of  the 
workers.  A few  thousand  dollars  used  to  enter 
the  great  open  doors  and  carry  the  Gospel  to  the 
soldiers  and  to  the  bereaved  and  wounded  hearts 
in  seven ty^ve  thousand  stricken  homes  would 
accomplish  results  such  as  are  not  likely  to  be 
within  reach  again  for  a lifetime.  The  adequate 
endowment  of  the  Doshisha  College  would  bring 
results  ten  times  greater  than  a like  sum  spent 
on  any  college  in  the  United  States.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  Kobe  College  for  young  women. 

In  helping  and  saving  Japan  now,  we  are 
helping  and  saving  not  only  the  fifty  millions 
of  one  empire,  but  the  five  hundred  millions  of 
the  three  empires  of  Eastern  Asia. 


32 


The  Christian  churches  in  Japan  cannot  pos- 
sibly do,  promptly  and  effectively,  the  work 
laid  upon  them  in  the  provideiice  of  Clod.  They 
should  be  sustained  most  loyally  by  the  pra3'ers 
and  gifts  of  all  who  believe  in  a God  of  nations, 
a God  of  peace  and  righteousness,  a God  of 
truth  and  love. 

Japan’s  soldiers  have  already  opened  a way 
for  her  merchants  and  missionaries  into  Korea, 
Manchuria,  and  China.  By  her  long  training 
in  an  unnatural  .seclusion,  by  her  restless  tem- 
perament, bj-  her  boundless  ambition,  bv  her 
wide-eyed  search  through  all  the  world  for  the 
best  in  material  splendor,  intellectual  certitude, 
and  spiritual  attainment,  by  her  successes  on 
land  and  sea,  her  aspirations  for  the  Orient  and 
her  evident  divine  calling  therein,  Japan  is  des- 
tined to  be  the  missionary  nation  of  the  Far  East. 
Work  for  her  to-day  will  be  work  for  another 
and  larger  land  to-morrow.  She  is  “ the  soul 
of  the  Far  East,”  though  the  man  who  coined 
that  expression  has  written  a book  largelj'  to 
prove  that  she  had  no  soul. 

Let  .salvation,  with  all  its  full-orbed  meaning, 
once  come  to  this  sold  of  the  Orient,  the  Sun-  ^ 
I'ise  Land  of  the  East,  and  the  dense  clouds  of 
darkness  will  roll  away  forever  from  the  troubled 
face  of  Asia. 


